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United Kingdom general election, 1928
6.3% |ongoing = no |party1 = Liberal Party (UK) |party2 = Conservative Party (UK) |party3 = Labour Party (UK) |party4 = Independent Labour Party |leader1 = David Lloyd George |leader2 = Austen Chamberlain |leader3 = Ramsay MacDonald |leader4 = James Maxton |image1 = |image2 = |image3 = |image4 = |seats1 = 263 |seat_change1 = 107 |seats2 = 248 |seat_change2 = 71 |seats3 = 52 |seat_change3 = 82 |seats4 = 44 |seat_change4 = 44 |percentage1 = 33.4% |percentage2 = 34.1% |percentage3 = 14.7% |percentage4 = 13.2% | title = Prime Minister | posttitle = Prime Minister | before_election = Austen Chamberlain | before_party = Conservative Party (UK) | after_election = David Lloyd George | after_party = Liberal Party (UK) }}The Conservative government of Austen Chamberlain had failed to resolve the UK's economic struggles as it continued to reel from the costs of the Great War and the communist Russian and German revolutions, which had resulted in a refusal of both the Russian (Soviet) government to pay back their war debts, and the German government to pay reparations to the Allies. As a result of this failure of the economy to recover, even a decade after the war, many people began to blame their troubles on the ruling Conservative government's fiscal policies. While the Conservative Party maintained most of its core support, many moderate voters turned once again to the Liberal Party, which had reunited after the 1923 election after the Coalition Liberals had been excluded from the government by their former Conservative allies. As the government had begun pursuing protectionist policies, the Liberals found unity in their commitment to free trade. The general strike of 1926, meanwhile, was still fresh in working class voters' minds—including the Labour Party's betrayal, having denounced the strike as revolutionary in nature. Due to the expulsion of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) from Labour, and the ban on the former following the strike, much of the Labour Party's former left wing had organised around the Independent Labour banner, and had supported the strike unequivocally. This sharp divide over the issue of the strike led many workers to the ILP. Meanwhile, more conservative former Labour voters felt that, despite Labour's denunciation of the general strike, the "socialist" Labour Party could no longer be trusted, encouraged by propaganda campaigns carried out by the Conservative and Liberal parties. As a result, many such voters switched to the Liberal Party. The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First". Labour campaigned on the theme of "Labour & the Nation", while Independent Labour put forward a programme entitled "Socialism in Our Time". Results The election produced a hung parliament, with the Liberals holding a plurality of seats. They were tacitly supported by Labour in forming a government, which has supported them in confidence and supply votes to just form a majority in such instances. Category:General elections in the United Kingdom